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Cbe pagofta library.
"hinese account
OF THE
Opium at
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LEIANB-SMHrORD-JVWOK-VMVIERSirY'
CHINESE ACCOUNT
OF THE
OPIUM WAR.
ffbe pagot>a library. Ho. t.
Chinese Account
OF THE
Opium War.
,88& By E. H. PARKER.
Chinese Account
OF THE
Opium War.
BY
E. H. J'ARKER.
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1888.
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PREFACE.
I O I
'TPHE following story of the Opium War is to all
intents and purposes a translation of the last
two chapters of the SMng Wu-ki, or " Military
Operations of the present Dynasty." The author
is Wei Yuan, a Chinese who held, about forty years
ago, the post of Department Magistrate at Kao-yu,
north of Yangchow ; and Wei Yuan's style has been
followed in the translation. Dates have been altered
so as to convey definite ideas of time to European
readers, and in some cases the Cantonese or other
popular pronunciation is given to the names of places
and persons well known in the south. In some parts
the original is digested, and wearisome portions have
been omitted.
The paper illustrates the extraordinary faithful-
ness with which the Chinese endeavour to perfect
11 PREFACE.
their histories ; and this seems to have always been a
national characteristic In the work of solving the
riddles of ancient and mediaeval history, the Chinese
records (if correctly translated) are likely to be
found as faithful as any, though there may be
mistakes.
E. H. PARKER
■ *•* -
• • •
CHINESE ACCOUNT
OF
THE OPIUM. WAR.
' I ^HE Manchu Annals introduce the history of the
-■- English opium war with a statement that, early
in the summer of 1838, the Director of the Court of
State Ceremonial, Hwang Tsioh-tsz," represented in
a Memorial to the Throne that the growing consump-
tion of foreign opium was at the root of all China's
troubles. Silver, — and coined dollars proportionately,
— was becoming scarce and relatively dear, the tael
having advanced from 1,000 to 1,600 cash in price; b
the revenue was in confusion, peculation rife, and
trade disorganized. Opium, he said, came from
England ; but, though those foreigners were ready
enough to weaken China and absorb her wealth by
encouraging its use, so severely did they forbid
smoking amongst themselves that offending ships
were sunk by heavy guns. They had possessed
themselves of [Koh-liu-pa or c ] Java by this means,
and had endeavoured to seduce Annam, which state,
a mmm
6 Dobell says the Spanish dollar was worth 760 cash in
A.D. 1800.
c Sf§f El
• •
• • •
• «
• • *
• a
2 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
however, had firmly discouraged any relations with
them. They were now ruining the bodies and the
fortunes of the Chinese with their abominable poison ;
and the memorialist proposed that the penalty of
death should be decreed against all offenders. In
consequence of this the Emperor at once remitted
the matter to the consideration of all the high
provincial authorities. Without a single exception,
those officers recommended the most stringent
measures, and he amongst them who wrote the most
uncompromisingly was Lin Ts&H-su, a Viceroy of
Hu Kwang, who was at once sent for to Peking,
whence, after receiving the Emperor's instructions,
he was despatched as Special Imperial Commissioner to
Canton, armed with full Admiral's powers in addition.
A hundred and fifty years or so earlier, opium
had been admitted into China and taxed as an
ordinary drug ; but, previous to the year 1765, the
annual import had never exceeded 200 chests. In
consequence of the rapidly increasing number of
smokers, the import was first forbidden in 1796. Not-
withstanding this prohibition, the annual clandestine
sales had, by the year 1820, reached nearly 4,000
chests. First stored at Macao, the opium gradually
gravitated to Whampoa; but, after the publication of
the first severe prohibitions in the u thirties," it was
finally stowed in hulks lying off the Ling-ting 6
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 3
Islands, a convenient spot commanding several water-
routes. The foreign ships used to deposit their
opium here, and then proceed to the ports with the
rest of their cargoes. The Foochow, Ningpo, and
Shanghai junks imported their opium from the high
seas, whilst the Canton merchants used to arrange
the price in Canton, and then bring it from the hulks.
At first there were onlv five of these hulks, and the
maximum quantity of opium on board did not exceed
from 4,000 to 5,000 chests, so that the whole might
easily have been set on fire ; but, as the Viceroy Juan
Yuan a had asked for some delay, in order to devise
a plan for driving the hulks away, time went on
until there were as many as twenty-five hulks, and
20,000 chests of opium. This was in the year 1826,
some time after the Viceroy Li Hung-pin b had
established his service of cruising junks. These junks,
for a monthly bribe of Tls. 36,000, allowed the opium
to pass freely into port.
It had previously been the rule that no silver
was to go out of the country, and that merchandise
was to be exchanged for merchandise : as much
bullion as $500,000 a year was brought by foreign
traders to adjust the balance : but it gradually came
to pass that a balance of silver had to be annually
made up on the Chinese side. To remedy this, the
Viceroy Lu K'un c abolished the cruisers altogether
4 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
in 1832. In 1837 the Viceroy T£ng T'iNG-CHfiNG a
re-established the cruising navy; but the Commodore
Han Shao-k'ing 6 arranged with the foreign ships
to convoy the opium for a percentage, which
percentage he represented as being captured opium,
and even undertook the import of opium himself.
For these eminent services he received a peacock's
feather, and was made a rear-admiral ; in consequence
of which the yearly import gradually reached a
figure of 40,000 or 50,000 chests. The suggestion
made by certain Peking officials that this opium
should be regularly taxed as a drug was rejected ;
and in the spring of 1839 Commissioner LiN
appeared upon the scene.
LiN called upon the hong merchant No I- wo c
[Howqua] to deliver up Chatun* [Jardine] and
Tinti* [Dent], who had been for many years in the
habit of dealing in opium. Chatun, having got wind
of this, had already made his escape, but Tinti came
with the English Company's Consul Ilut' [Elliot]
from Macao to the Canton Foreign Factory. Lin
TsfeH-su sent a body of soldiers to keep a watch upon
them there and to surround the Liptak g Fort, in the
Canton River, with a cordon of rafts, so as to prevent
communication therewith. He then ordered the
surrender, within a given date, of all the opium on
a mm& b mm& e u^m **«t
'SUt '*<* "S&
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 5
board the 25 hulks at Ling-ting, and a free pardon,
failing which, he threatened to stop supplies of fuel
and water, and to prevent trade. He proceeded to
catechise the young gentry attached to the local
university, and learnt from their unanimous testimony
that the failure of the opium laws was entirely owing
to the connivance of the navy. Han Shao-k'ing was
cashiered at his recommendation; but it was im-
possible to punish him capitally or according to his
full deserts, as the Viceroy Teng had recommended
him for the post.
The "Company's Consul" a was a foreign official
despatched by the King of England to superintend
trading operations. Foreign traders of other nation-
alities looked after their own trade as individuals.
England alone had a separate company, consisting
of the richest merchants in the kingdom, who had
subscribed a capital of $30,000,000 ; and the King
sent this consular officer to manage the whole concern.
All the holding-out for rights and the overbearing
demands made upon China were the doing of this
Consul. Hence the traders of the other countries
were as the individual salt-dealers of China, whilst the
Company was like the salt-monopolists. Their charter
was first for 30 years, but was afterwards renewed for
60 years. In 1833 the Company's charter ceased
to be exclusive in China, and there was no longer a
F
6 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
Consul at Canton. This was the first great change in
foreign affairs. When the Viceroy Lu K'un first
came to Canton, he was ignorant of our true interests,
gave ear to the suggestions of the foreign traders,
and sent a despatch to England directing a Consul
to be sent as before. The first was Lo Ltjtpi* [Lord
Napier] who forced his ships past the Bogue, began
hostilities, and was finally constrained to return home.
The next was Elliot, who had been at Canton for
three years when he was besieged in the factory as
above described. Within a week or two he sent in
an official petition, offering to surrender the opium as
instructed, and also to send back to Canton all the
opium-ships on their way to Japan. The total
number of chests thus surrendered was 20,283, or,
at 120 catties apiece, 2,376,000 catties of the drug.
LiN Ts6h-su and the Viceroy T£ng proceeded to the
Bogue to superintend the delivery, which was
completed in the month of May. It was agreed to
bestow three catties of tea for each one of opium,
and the opium was ordered by the Emperor to be
destroyed, instead of being sent to Peking as
proposed, — the object being to impress the people by
this public spectacle. This destruction was carried
out at the Bogue in the presence of Lin TsllH-su,
the Viceroy, and the Governor. At an elevated spot
on the shore a space was barricaded in ; here a pit
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 7
was dag, and filled with opium mixed with brine:
into this, again, lime was thrown, forming a scalding
furnace, which made akind of boiling soup of the opium.
In the evening the mixture was let out by sluices,
and allowed to flow out to sea with the ebb tide.
Opium is of four sorts : the best is Kung pan t'ou*
[or Patna]; the Pdk Vov? [or Malwa] comes next,
and the Kim fa t 6 ou c [chin hwa t c u or Persian] next
again ; each chest containing 40 balls. Besides these,
there is a dearer sort called the smaller Kung pan.
They all come from Bengal and [? Madras]* in India.
At the Indian auctions as many as 12,000 chests are
sometimes sold in a month. Though some of this
goes to countries farther south, the greater part goes
to China, which takes from 50,000 to 60,000 chests
a year. Its price in India is about $250 a
chest, which price is more than doubled by the time
it reaches Canton. Thus, the destruction of property
was from $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 cost price, or
over $10,000,000 including the profit A number
of traders from other countries came to witness the
spectacle, and composed eulogistic essays upon the
excellence of China's policy in this matter.
Commissioner Lin then issued orders for the
ejection of all the opium hulks, and also of the
disloyal traders at Macao, who were forbidden to
tarry upon Chinese soil. Ships arriving with opium
8 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
would not be interfered with if they at once turned
round and went back, and all ships entering port
must give bonds agreeing that those found smug-
gling opium should be confiscated with their cargoes,
and that the individuals concerned should be executed
at once. These orders were, however, far too stringent,
and, anyhow, contrary to the law which provides that
" Mongols, and other persons beyond the pale of
" civilization, shall be at liberty to ransom capital
" offences by a fine payable in cattle." The American
and other nations, however, gave the bonds required.
On this, Elliot went down from Canton to Macao,
and sent in a petition asking that a deputy might be
despatched to Macao to discuss with him a set of
rules under which a stop might be permanently put
to the opium trade; and enlarging upon the abuses
of the hulk system. He also requested that British
ships might be permitted to anchor and discharge at
Macao. This was the second great turning-point in
foreign affairs. Lin, however, resolutely objected
to this proposal, grounding his objections on the
fact that twenty-five ships were the fixed number
sanctioned for Macao ; and that, if the British did
not come to Whampoa, the Maritime Customs would
have no work to do, nor would there be any means
of putting a check upon opium smuggling. To this
Elliot replied that, unless permission were granted
to anchor at Macao, there would be no basis for an
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 9
understanding. He declined either to receive the
tea bestowed upon him, or to give bonds; and said he
must await instructions from his Government before
he could allow ships to enter port. Elliot had
already sent despatches home by a trading ship, to
which a reply might be expected in six months, so
that a little delay would have made no difference.
But in the month of July there occurred the Tsim-
sha Point" case, in which a Chinese, named Lin
Wei-hi, 6 was killed by a foreign sailor [7th July].
Orders were sent to Elliot to surrender the offender in
satisfaction ; but Elliot — who, however, had no in-
tention of deliberately disobeying — only had up for ex-
amination five black barbarians, not the real criminals,
whilst he offered rewards to any who should come
forward as informers. In August the Commissioner
Lin and the Viceroy TIjng, in accordance with law,
cut off the supply of fuel and provisions from Macao.
They also held that, as the foreigners resident in
Macao were there for purposes of trade, they had no
right to tarry at Macao, seeing that they no longer
entered port to trade. On this Elliot, together with his
family and compatriots at Macao, fifty-seven families
in all, removed from Mac&o, and took quarters on
board the trading ships at Tsim-sha Point. Elliot,
now being exasperated, then secretly sent for two men-
of-war from the foreign ports, and, with three large
* •& W 58 (opposite Hongkong). * # j££ §
10 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
trading ships fitted up as cruisers, proceeded to
Cowloon, where, under pretext of demanding food, he
engaged our naval force in battle. Captain Lai En-
TSiOH a succeeded in sinking a two-masted foreign
ship, two sampans, and a Spanish hulk hired by the
British. In the eighth moon [October] Elliot got
the Europeans at Macao to send a message for him,
to the effect that he was willing to send away the
hulks and the disloyal traders, and also that the
trading ships were willing to give bonds agreeing to
the confiscation of ship and cargo in cases of smug-
gling [opium]; but he objected to the words "the
"individuals concerned to be executed at once."
This was the third turning-point in Canton affairs.
Lin Ts$h-su, however, insisted upon the insertion
of these words, so that the bonds of all nationalities
might be alike ; and, moreover, demanded the sur-
render of the murderer. Shortly after this, two
English trading ships did sign bonds as required,
but Elliot sent two men-of-war [the "Volage" and
" Hyacinth"] after them to prevent it. He also peti-
tioned us not to attack and destroy the ships at Tsim-
sha Point, so that he might await despatches from
England: but Admiral Kwan T'ien-p'ei 6 returned
his petition because the murderer was not given up.
During these premises, five of our war-ships went to
preserve order on the sea-board, and, the petition
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 11
having been rejected, the English mistook our red
flags for a declaration of war, and opened fire ; — for
in Europe a red flag means war, and a white one peace.
Admiral Kwan returned their fire, and knocked
the figure-head off" one ship, causing the death by
drowning of many European soldiers. In November
they next unsuccessfully attacked our fort north
of Tsim-sha Point ; but, as we had poisoned the wells,
and they feared a night attack, they made off to
their ships again.
On receipt of the news of the Oowloon affair, the
Emperor wrote on the memorialists' report: — "I do
" not fear your rashness, gentlemen, so much as I fear
" your cowardice." The Imperial Edict of the 8th of
the 11th moon (December) ran: — "The English, ever
" since the opium interdiction, have been vacillating
" in their conduct. It is no longer consistent with
" dignity to continue to permit their trade. The
" trifle of customs duties is of no importance to us.
" Our dynasty, in conciliating foreigners, has shewn
" kindness exceeding deep; but the English, instead
" of being grateful for this, have indulged in ferocious
" violence, so that they are in the wrong whilst we in
" the right, as all the world must know. As they have
" placed themselves outside the pale of our favour,
" they are not entitled to pity. Let, therefore, the
" English trade be at once stopped." In the original
memorial there was a proposal that those ships which
12 Chinese Account oj the Opium War.
obeyed the law should receive protection, whilst those
which were recalcitrant should suffer by being repelled,
on which the Emperor wrote: — "They are all men
" of the same country : if they are dealt with
" differently, there must be inconsistency in it."
The above is the history of the cutting-off of
English trade, owing to the opium prohibition.
Meanwhile, one TsfeffG Wang-yen, Director of
the Revision Court, had recommended the Emperor
to close the Customs Houses, and put a complete stop
to sea-going trade with all countries. This suggestion
was referred to Commissioner Lin, who strongly
objected to it, arguing that, if those who had not
broken the prohibition were excluded from trade
without reason, they would join in a general attack
upon ns. The matter then dropped.
After the closing of the ports to the English, from
twenty to thirty ships arrived, none of which were
allowed to enter, much to the chagrin of everybody.
Elliot now sent in a second petition, saying that
he had served some years at Canton, and was really
desirous of peace ; that he was very much distressed
at the confusion into which affairs had drifted ; that
he would be very pleased to act in obedience to the
laws of the Great Pure Dynasty, so long as he had
not to break his own country's laws : and he begged
that his countrymen might be allowed to return to
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 18
Macao pending the arrival of instructions from home,
when trade could be re-opened. This is the fourth
turning-point in Canton affairs.
Lin Ts£h-su held, however, in view of the Em-
peror's recent instructions, that any divergence there-
from was inexpedient, and therefore repeated the
interdiction in the strongest terms. Over ten ships
then weighed anchor and went out to L6-man Shan, a
where, in company with a number of new arrivals,
they gave opium in exchange for provisions brought
to them by the fishing boats. Lin Ts&h-su was
now made Viceroy, and arranged with Admiral
Kwan a plan for utilizing the tanka boatmen and
fishing-craft in an attack upon the disloyal junks,
the Chinese war-junks being unfitted for the high
seas. A number of boats were disposed in the
various creeks and inlets, and it was arranged that
an attack should be made simultaneously from four
directions, going out and returning on one tide.
Twenty-three junks, engaged in exchanging supplies
for opium, were burnt at Ch'ang-sha Wan, 6 in the
month of March, a number of disloyal Chinese were
burnt in their huts on shore, or drowned ; and a dozen
or so were taken prisoners. The foreign ships hurriedly
moved off to escape the fire-boats. The eighteen
months' law condemning opium-smokers to strangula-
tion, and opium-dealers to decapitation had now been in
14 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
force the best part of a year, and as the watch kept
all over the Empire was very strict, over half the
smokers were already cured. Meantime, the news of
the stoppage of trade reached England, and no one
would sell the stocks of tea at the various emporia,
which thus accumulated until famine prices were
reached, so that during this time a profitable trade
was done by Canton and Foochow junks with Singa-
pore and other places in the south. There was no
silver available in the capital of London, where the
merchants were obliged to borrow large sums from
neighbouring emporia in order to meet their engage-
ments. Elliot had sent home for troops, and the
Queen directed Parliament to deliberate upon the
matter. The official body, civil and military, were
for war, whilst the mercantile interest was for peace.
Discussion went on for several days without any
definite result, and at last lots were drawn in the
Lo Chan-sz Temple a [? division before the Lord
Chancellor] and three tickets were found in favour
of war, which was therefore decided upon. The
Queen ordered her relative by marriage, Peh-meh, 6
[Sir Gordon Bremer] to take a dozen or so of war-
ships under his command, to which were added twenty
or thirty guard-ships from India. This was reported
to the Throne by Lin Ts6h-su in the month of June ;
but the Emperor still said : — "What can they do if
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 15
" we quietly wait on the defensive and watch their
" movements ? " During the night of the 9th of the
fifth moon [some time in June] Lin Ts&h-su sent
another naval force to the sea-board off Mo-tau, a
and succeeded in burning with his fireships two
foreign sampans, besides killing four white foreigners ;
and one large foreign ship was obliged to escape the
fire by leaving its anchor behind. Eleven fishing
boats were burnt, and thirteen traitorous Chinese
taken prisoners. Towards the end of June, fifteen
British men-of-war, including three steamers, assem-
bled at the Oum-sing Moon, 6 the rest remaining at
L6-mAn Shan. Lin Ts^h-su sent down ten fireships in
pairs, each pair connected by iron chains, which swept
down thus with the tide. The foreign ships all made
off hastily : but two sampans were burnt ; and from
this time the English did not venture again into port.
From the time of his arrival in Canton, Lin
Ts£h-su had sent out spies daily to get foreign,
information, and to translate European works. He
had also purchased newspapers, and discovered there-
from that the Europeans held the Chinese navy in the
utmost contempt, but were in great dread of our
pirates and fishermen. He therefore engaged 5,000
sturdy men at #6 a month, with $6 extra for each of
their families, which sum was defrayed by subscription
amongst the members of the co-hong, the salt-dealers,
a «7j *&mrc
16 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
and the Swatow merchants. He also extended a
chain barrier and a system of rafts across the Bogue,
and set up on both banks over 200 guns which he
had purchased from the different European countries.
He further hired sixty boats of various sorts, which he
equipped for fighting, and also prepared 20 fire-
ships and over 100 smaller boats to attack the
foreign ships. Besides all this, he purchased an old
foreign ship, and practised his men in the art of
taking her by assault from the windward with the
neap tides in their, favour. Lin Ts&H-stJ reviewed his
fleet in person, and offered $200 for each white man,
with half the amount for each black man killed.
For Elliot's head #20,000 was offered, with
graduated amounts, according to rank, for those of
the military officers under him. Every man-of-war
captured would be prize to the captors, with the
exception of the arms and ammunition, which would
be surrendered to the viceregal government The re-
sult of this action was, that the traitorous Chinese be-
came objects of suspicion to the English, and were all
sent away. The river inlets west of Macao and east
of the Bogue were guarded by strong detachments of
troops ; and, as all the other passages were too rocky
and shallow for the foreign ships, they went cruising
along the coasts of China. Thirtv-one of them
appeared off the Che Kiang coasts, and five made an
attack upon Amoy, but one of the largest [? the
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 17
" Blonde "] was sunk through the dispositions of the
Viceroy T£ng Ting-ch^ng [transferred to Foochow
on the 6th of February]. He also shipped a number
of braves on board trading junks, and attacked the
foreign ships at Namoa. For want of wind, these latter
were unable to get away, and, having no guns astern,
were unable with rifles alone to injure our junks, pro-
tected as they were with bullet-proof mantlets of hide.
We damaged their sterns, and treated them to a
volley of stink-pots and fire-balls, killing several
dozen of the barbarian soldiers. [The " Hellas " was
attacked on the 22nd of May while becalmed, and
all her hands were wounded.] On the wind get-
ting up, the barbarian ships managed to escape. In
the sixth moon [5th July 1840] their whole fleet
attacked and captured Ting-hai [Chusan] and block-
ading detachments then swept the coasts of Fu Kien
and Kwang Tung. A month later the foreign ships
made a sudden attack upon the neck of land behind
Macao, but several of their small boats were sunk by
our guns, and a score or more of their eyes [officers]
and men were wounded. A month later Lin Ts^h-su,
observing a squadron of five ships [ " Enterprise,"
"Larne," "Louisa," "Hyacinth"] off Mo-tau,
under Smith's* command, sent five junks to sea to
annihilate them, each junk carrying 600 men.
Captain Ma Ch'Isn 6 happened to engage [Commodore]
18 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
Smith's ship first, and succeeded in damaging
her bows, so that she reeled over, and some marines
were drowned. For a long time we surrounded
her, until all her ammunition was fired off;
but the other ships sent a dozen or so of boats
to surround Ma Chan's junk, and, whilst Ma Ch'^n
was engaged with these, Smith's ship managed to
escape. We picked up several corpses, and captured
some arms and a flag : the facts were duly reported
to the Emperor, who said Lin "had caused the
" war by his excessive zeal, and had killed people
" in order to close their mouths." The meaning
of this was that the Che Kiang authorities were
totally unable to do anything for the recovery
of Ting-hai, and there was no possibility of anyone
doing so except by fighting at sea, at which exercise
the foreign ships excelled us ; whilst it had been
whispered to the Emperor that the foreigners might
take advantage of China's unreadiness for war to
invade the country. The Emperor had also now
heard that, before the opium was surrendered, a
promise, since broken, had been made to pay for it,
which was the cause of hostilities : others told him
that the Viceroy Thing's report of the Amoy affair
was untrue. Ilipu," Viceroy at Nanking, was there-
fore sent as Imperial Commissioner to Ningpo, and
orders were sent to all the Governors of the Coast
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 19
Provinces to receive at once and report to the Emperor
the contents of any letters handed in by foreign
ships. The Under Secretaries Hwang Tsioh-tsz
and K'l Tsun-tsao" were sent to observe the course
of events in Fu Kien Province. In the month of
August, the foreign chief Bremer and five ships
arrived at Tientsin, with letters from the Pa-li-man 6
office [Parliament] addressed to the " Premier of the
" Great Pure Dynasty," and containing a number of
categorical demands. First, he demanded the value of
"the produce" (as the first letters euphoniously styled
"opium"), or "opium" (as he afterwards plainly
called it). Secondly, he demanded that Canton,
Amoy, Foochow, Ting-hai, and Shanghai should
be opened to trade. Thirdly, terms of equality.
Fourthly, a war indemnity. Fifthly, that merchants
on shore must not be held responsible for the doings
of opium-ships on the seas. Sixthly, the abolition
of the co-hong monopoly. These demands were
referred to Peking by K'ishen, c Viceroy of Chih Li,
and meanwhile the foreign ships had not come north,
as it was hoped that the negotiations for commercial
privileges would be successful ; so that, if things had
been properly managed, the treaty would have been
concluded on the spot. The Tientsin taotai Luh Kien-
ying^ represented that the three first demands were
the most important, and suggested that the opium
20 Chinese Account of the Opi
should be paid for by remission of duties; that
Macao should be an open port ; and that the Hopno
be placed on terms of equality with them ; but that,
adhering to the principle of rigidly excluding opium,
these concessions should be conditional upon opium
not coming ; and that the abolition of the co-hong
question should be referred by them to Lin TsEfi-sii
at Canton. In this way satisfaction would be given
without compromising China's dignity. This is the
fifth turning-point in western affairs. However,
those charged with the negotiations thought that tiwy '
would not gain so much credit by concluding an
arrangement at once at Tientsin as if they magnified
and dragged on the negotiations ; and therefore they
would give no decided answers to any of the demands.
Moreover, in the reply, it was hinted that LiN
Ts£h-s0 would be severely punished if it were found by
the Emperor's Commissioner that there was anything
crooked in the alleged "delivery-up of the opium"
promise of last year. An- Imperial edict appointed
K'tshen as Commissioner to enquire into the matter.
Lin Tseh-sO and Teng T'ing-cheng were degraded,
but ordered to await the result of investigation at
Canton. Orders were also given to all the coast
authorities not to fire upon the European ships. The
applicants then left Tientsin, and declined to surren-
der Ting-hai, on the ground that the Chinese Govern-
ment would give no decided answer. Half of their
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 21
naval force left Chusan for Canton. Lin Ts^h-su
had represented meanwhile that the other nationalities
were very indignant at the prolonged stoppage of
trade by the British, and had said that they would
send home for armed forces of their own if the
English did not return quickly. This, he said,
was just what we wanted, — to set one enemy against
the other. Three million taels would buy all the
ships and guns that China wanted ; and, by thus
imitating the enemy's best methods, we should be able
to constrain him with his own weapons, and allow
him to wear himself out in seeking to attack us.
He offered to redeem his past errors by proceeding to
Che Kiang with a view to recovering -Ting-hai.
The Emperor, however, would not agree to his
proposals. In November Elliot returned to Che
Kiang, and had an interview with Ilipu at Chen-hai.
He demanded the surrender of the captured chief
AN-T'u-Tfe rt [Captain Anstruther] ; and also of the
foreign ship [" Kite"] which had been stranded on a
sandbank off Ningpo in September, together with a
score or two of white and black barbarians. He
left unsuccessful. Ilipu after this sent his slave
Chang-hi 6 to the foreign ships with a present of beef
and wine, and the " welcome news" of the degradation
of Lin and TSng. The foreign chief Bremer shook
his head, and said: — "Mr. Lin is one of China's best
22 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
" Viceroys, and an able and plucky man, though he
" does not understand foreign ways. You can stop
" the opium trade, but you cannot stop all our trade,
" for, if you do that, you will stop our means of
"subsistence; and we must struggle for trading
" privileges with all our might. You are very wrong
" if you think we have come here out of any feeling
" of hostility towards the Viceroy Lin." Meanwhile
the people of Chih Li and Shan Tung vied with
each other in their representations of the modest
character of the enemy; in consequence of which
T { OHUft?u, a Governor of Shan Tung, sent presents
to the foreign fleet, and then represented to the
Emperor that the foreigners had come ashore and
made obeisance in a body ! At the same time the
new Viceroy, Iliang, 6 reported that half of our fleet
which had been thrown out of commission at Canton,
had fallen into the enemy's hands. In November
K'ishen arrived in Canton ; and, finding the official
despatches from Elliot surrendering the opium,
tried to find faults in Lin's conduct; but was
unsuccessful. He then lost the good-will of the
military by proposing to execute the captain who,
as he made out, had provoked the naval engagement
by firing the first shot. The consequence of this was
that a number of Chinese braves were discharged and
went over to the English; nay, even received posts
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 23
of trust from them. The sunken piles were removed
from the river at Wang-tong, a and several interviews
were had with Elliot at the Bogue, in consequence
of which the foreign ships were able to survey
the river and make charts, not to mention finding
out all about our dispositions. On the advice of the
Salt Comptroller Wang Tuh, 6 the services of all the
civil and military officials were dispensed with, and
communications were entrusted entirely to a wretch-
ed Chinese traitor named Pao P^ng, c who had once
been the pet boy of the traitor Dent, and whom
Elliot regarded as a menial, conceiving thereupon a
greater contempt for China's resources in men than
ever. Elliot wrote to K'ishen, " If you increase
" the number of your soldiers against us, I will not
" consent to peace ;" and the result was that we dared
not re-engage the discharged men. Whenever the
traitorous spies were denounced, the denouncers were
accused of being spies ; and whenever persons offered
information about the foreigners, they were told : —
" I am not like Viceroy Lin, who, as one of China's
" great officers, kept spying upon the foreigners all
"day." In short, the whole policy of the former
incumbents was reversed. Perhaps the idea in all
this was to captivate the foreign mind ; but the real
fact was that the enemy was manufacturing a still
larger number of boats and junks of all shapes and
"$£ »£tt '&ffi
24 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
sizes, besides engaging opium-running snake-boats,
etc., all armed with rockets, stink-pots, ladders, and
every kind of equipment. Admiral Kwan con-
fidentially recommended an increase of troops ; but
K'isheX firmly refused, fearing that this would
jeopardise the peace negotiations. Notwithstanding
an indemnity of seven million taels offered by him
for the opium destroyed, a port was also demanded.
K'ishen at first thought of Amoy and Hongkong,
and consulted Tenq T'ing-chexg; but the latter
objected to Amoy as being the key to Fu Kien ; and,
as to Hongkong, he argued that this island occupied
a prominent and central position in Canton waters,
sheltered from bad weather by the two islands of Tsim-
sha Tsui a and K'wen-tai Lou, 6 which, if fortified by
the English, would be a perpetual menace to Canton.
K'ishen had represented this to the Throne, and
therefore could not go back upon his own word, and
accept Elliot's proposals. Correspondence and
interviews led to no result; so at last Elliot, on the
7th of January 1841, suddenly attacked the Sha-kok c
and the Tai-kok* forts, — the first important line of
defence outside the Bogue. The guns of the fleet
bombarded the forts in front, and about 2,000
Chinese traitors scaled the hills and attacked them
in the rear. A hundred or more of these were
blown up by exploded mines; but the rest, far out-
Chinese Account of the Opium War, 25
numbering the garrison of 600 men, came swarming
up notwithstanding. Two or three hundred more
were killed by our gingalls ; but at last our powder
was exhausted, and the steam-launches got round to
Sam-mun Hau, a and burnt our fleet, the crews of
which either decamped or perished. The W&ng-
tong, Tsing-yiin and Wai-yiin forts only just
managed to escape destruction themselves, and were
unable to offer any succour. The commandant at
Tai-kok, Ch'Sn Lien-sh^ng, 6 and his son were
killed, and the two forts fell into the rebels' hands.
The other three forts, commanded by Admiral Kwan,
Rear-Admiral Li T'ing-yu, e and Captain Ma Ch'Iin
had only a few hundred men in them, who could do
nothing but regard each other with weeping eyes.
Admiral Kwan sent Li to Canton to crave more
troops, in which request he was supported by the
whole official body ; but K'ishen was obdurate, and
simply spent the night in writing out further peace
proposals, which he sent by Pao P'Isng to Elliot.
- Hongkong was offered in addition to the opium
indemnity, and the Che Kiang [? "Kite"] prisoners
were exchanged for Ting-hai. A treaty was made,
and K'ishen gave a dinner to Elliot of the Bogue.
On the 11th of February the Emperor's refusal to
ratify was received, and everything was upset again.
"erp b mmn c mmu
26 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
Now, when K'ishen took leave of the Emperor,
he had already been instructed to grant free trade,
if that should be all the English asked ; but, if their
demands were exorbitant, he was to keep them in
good humour, strengthen his defences, and ask for
reinforcements : but he was never told to discharge
his men and secure peace at all costs. The Emperor
was furious when he heard of the capture of the forts
and the menacing attitude of the rebels, and said he
would not give a cent for the opium nor yield an
inch of territory. Troops from the south-western pro-
vinces were ordered to Canton, and both Lin and
T&NG were ordered to associate themselves with
K'ishen. K'ishen, however, would not consult LiN
upon any matter ; and, though the peace negotiations
had fallen through, he would not allow Admiral
Kwan to strengthen himself with more troops. On
the other hand, the enemy enrolled more men than
ever, added to their equipments, and became a
hundred times more ferocious than before. Early in
February, the Emperor had launched a decree des-
canting upon the crimes of the rebels, and ordering the
Imperial Clansman Yikshan to Canton as Rebel
Quelling Generalissimo. Yang Fang, 6 General of
Hu Nan Province, and Lungw^n, President of
the Board of Revenue, were associated with him as
advisers. K'ikung, 4 President of the Board of
«$m >4i3r »m% "mm
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 27
Punishments, was ordered to Kiang Si Province to be
in charge of the Commissariat. General Fang arrived,
after audience, in March ; but the English had already
taken the Wang-tong and Bogue forts on the 5th of
the 2nd Moon [the 26th February], when Admiral
Kwan was killed. Over 300 guns, together with
the 200 or more of foreign guns purchased by Lin,
had fallen into the enemy's hands. The thousand
or so of men newly arrived from Hu Nan
were at once sent by K'ishen to the front.
The Cantonese fled the moment the engagement
began ; but the Hu Nan men fought as they retreat-
ed, and half of them were drowned, together with
their Commander Siangfuh. a There were only two
places on the Canton River narrow enough to be
defended, namely, Liptak and Ishamei 6 (20 li) by
the east channel, and Tai-wong Kao c (15 li) by
the south-west. Yang Fang sent Brigadier Twan
YuNG-FUH d with 1,000 men to occupy a temple,
about three miles distant south-east from Canton, and
two miles inland from the river. Another Brigadier,
Ch'ang Ch'un,' was sent to occupy Phoenix Hill,
about two miles behind Tai-wong Kao. In neither
case were measures taken sufficient to stop the ships.
At Liptak and Ishamei, though junks filled with
stones had been sunk, there were no soldiers to
prevent the ships from removing them. The English
28
Chinese Account of the Opium War.
were at first rather awed at Yang's military reputa-
tion, and, not knowing what our dispositions were,
sent some white foreigners to Phoenix Hill with
peace proposals. Some traitorous Chinese were with
them, and they took soundings as they came.
Ch'ang Ch'un sent the letter on to Canton, and
meanwhile allowed the traitors to show the foreigners
all over the camp; when, of course, they reported that
there were no defences, and advanced, capturing
Phoenix Hill and the forts commanding Liptak
and Ish&mei. Meanwhile K'ishen was deprived of
his titles and honours, and the Emperor was rendered
more furious than ever at receiving from Iliang an
English " proclamation," posted at Hongkong [1st
February 1841], saying : — " As ye are now subjects
"of Great England, ye ought in right to obey her."
K'ishen's family was subjected to a domiciliary
visit, and he himself [ 12th March j was haled in
chains to Peking. The English, perceiving the Em-
peror's rage, and seeing the pass things had come
to, feared that peace was farther off than ever, and
were most anxious for trade, in order that they
might recoup themselves the great expense of the
war: besides, the other countries blamed them for
keeping the trade closed for so long. They therefore
sent a letter by the American head-man and Howqua,
saying : — " If you want peace, and do not press
" other matters, all we ask is trade as before ; and
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 29
" any ships smuggling opium may be confiscated with
" their cargoes :" i.e. they dared not ask for either
the opium indemnity or for Hongkong, as had been
promised to them by K'ishen. Yang Fang ordered
them back out of the Bogue; to which Elliot
replied : — " The ships will retire when the Decree
"authorizing trade is received ;"" — which was duly
reported to the Throne by Iliang and Yang Fang.
The enemy was now at our gates ; our soldiers
were routed, the people flying, and we had no arms;
and so there was no other way of obtaining a truce
and the retirement of the enemy but by temporarily
giving way: and, as neither the opium indemnity nor
a port was demanded, China could have done so with
much better grace than before K'ishen's degradation.
This is the sixth turning-point in Canton affairs.
Yang Fang, on his way to Canton, had heard
that peace was likely to be made; so that, in order to
back up K'isheN in anticipation, and secure his own
position, he had separately recommended to the Em-
peror that a " haven for stowage should bo granted,"
which proposal had considerably shaken the Em-
peror's confidence in him. And now, as he did not
take the ground in his reports that the pirates had
since been admitted, that he had been defeated, and
that some compromise was necessary to get rid of the
foe ; nor the ground that the foreigners were by this
time awe-stricken, that China's dignity had been
80 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
vindicated, and that affairs had taken a turn of such
importance that further mistakes should be avoided ;
nor, again, that defensive preparations were now
complete, and extermination would at once follow
further outrages ; but simply indulged in empty and
equivocal vapourings ; the Emperor put him down as
an unsoldierly, undiplomatic individual, and would
not agree to his recommendations.
By this time the Ting-hai fleet had come,
making a total of fifty large ships, half at Hongkong,
and half in the river; and flags stuck up in the
boats advertised opium for sale all along the river.
Yikshan remained a while on the Kwang Tung
frontier whilst means of attack were being hurried
up from the provinces. He, Lungw^N, and the
new Viceroy K'ikung, arrived in Canton on the 14th
of April. Yikshan consulted Yang Fang and Litf
Ts&H-su as to what was to be done, and they both
said that Canton was entirely defenceless, and that
the only thing was to get the foreign ships by some
ruse or other outside Liptak and Tai Wong-kao, and
then work day and night to block up the river, fortify
the banks, and station bodies of soldiers at suitable
places, so as to avoid being at the mercy of the
western men. After re-inforcing and equipping our-
selves we could then (they said) resume the offensive,
and seize the first favourable opportunity of wind
and tide to attack and burn the fleet. This month,
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 31
however, Lin Ts^h-su received orders to proceed to
Che Kiang, the Emperor having now formed changed
ideas of the respective merits both of him and of
K'ishen from the reports received from the Nanking
and Foochow authorities ; and Yuk'ien," Viceroy at
Nanking, was ordered to replace Ilipu as Com-
missioner.
At first Yikshan was sensible enough to listen
to Yang Fang's advice and not risk a second fight
until the new forces should have arrived; but, yielding
to a desire for glory, he at last secretly ordered a
sudden night attack upon the fleet from three
different quarters, and only informed Yang Fang
when the men had actually left the city. Yang
Fang stamped and swore ; but it was too late. The
attack was made by 400 braves from Sz Ch'wan and
by 300 Cantonese, who, at a signal from a gun, rushed
on the fleet in fire-boats carrying stink-pots, fire-
balls, and long boarding-pikes. A certain amount
of injury was done to two ships, and five sampans
and several hundred foreign soldiers were drowned.
Elliot managed to effect his escape from the factory
where he was, and after his departure the place was
completely rifled by the Hu Nan and Sz Ch'wan
soldiery. Several Americans were wounded by mis-
take. At daylight the fleet made a movement up
to Canton, and all the combustible material, which
32 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
had been brought down at such expense from Kwang
Si, was set on fire by the steam-launches of the
enemy and by the Chinese traitors. Three days later
Elliot handed in a missive saying that a general
attack would take place the next morning; and next
day the city was attacked from the three sides which
were surrounded by water. The 8,000 catty [five-ton]
guns, which had been newly cast at Fatshan, were
much dreaded by the foreigners ; but, unfortunately,
no suitable positions could be found for aiming them,
either on shore or afloat. Our soldiers, who had
been detached, regardless of what Province they
came from, in such a way that men and officers were
strangers to each other, broke and fled, indulged
in mutual recriminations, and began to complain
about their pay. K'ikung, moreover, was too stingy
to allow more than one tent to fifteen men ; so that
the troops were all huddled together without discip-
line, and looted around just as they liked. Add to
this, Yikshan had disposed the greater part of his
forces so as to defend the south and east sides, the
mud rampart behind the city to the north-west being
left undefended, so that the heights were taken in one
day. These consisted of the T'ien-tsz Fort under
Twan Yung Fuh, with 8,000 catty guns,— which
were spiked before they had a chance of firing ; the
mud rampart under Captains Tai Ch'ang" and
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 83
Liu Ta-chukg ; * and the Square Fort under Ch'ang
Ch'un, which last commandod a view of the whole
city, and had resisted the Manchus for six whole
months when they invested Canton 200 years ago,
and the capture of which enabled them at last to
take the city. It ought to have been razed long
ago, and all approaches to the hill should have been
obstructed. But, again, as it is three miles away from
the river, and full of crags, one single man might
have done something to defend it; yet, after the mud
rampart had fallen, the enemy worked round north-
east without meeting with any opposition whatever.
Only 100 or so of them had appeared at the foot, when
the garrison of the fort made off helter-skelter, several
being killed by falls in their hurry; so that this
important position fell into the foreigners' hands
without a struggle, and was speedily fortified by
them so as to dominate the helpless city; which they
proceeded to bombard. On the seventh day the Tartar-
General and his advisers took refuge in the Governor's
palace from the missiles which came raining down
on the south-east quarter of the inner or Tartar city,
and, after a consultation, sent the prefect 6 of Canton
outside to propose terms. Elliot promptly demand-
ed, in addition to the opium-money, a war indemnity
of $6,000,000, — the question of Hongkong to remain
for discussion. The money was to be paid within five
84 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
days, and the ships were to retire beyond the Bogue
as soon as the Tartar- General and the soldiers from
other provinces should have quitted Canton! [The
total British losses were 'seventy killed and wounded.]
All this was acceded to ; white flags were exhibited
on the city walls ; the hong merchants were ordered
to furnish #2,000,000, and the rest was contributed
by the Treasurer's, Salt Commissioner's, and Hoppo's
chests. This was reported to the Throne, — omitting
all reference to the opium and Hongkong. The
foreign soldiers in Square Fort then rejoined the
ships, and Elliot insisted on the Tartar-General and
his advisers leaving the city. Accordingly Yikshan
and Lungw^n retired with their troops to Kin Shan
[Cumshan], a dozen miles or so from the river, and
withdrew the Hu Nan troops ; but Yang Fang was
left in Canton to maintain order. LuNGW^N died
of shame and mortification shortly after his arrival at
Cumshan.
Now, on their first arrival in Canton, the Tartar-
General and his advisers had represented to the
Throne that all the Cantonese people were disloyal,
and all the Cantonese soldiers marauders, and there-
fore marines had been brought all the way from Fu
Kien, to the exclusion of Cantonese : disloyal persons
detected were executed without trial ; and thus the
Cantonese people suffered from a feeling of injustice.
On the other hand, the English did not kill the
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 85
Cantonese, and always released any local braves
which they had taken prisoners, occasionally even
attacking parties of bandits, and prohibiting all
looting, so as to gain the people's sympathies.
Consequently no response was made to the offers of
reward for the enemies' heads. The people had
witnessed the attack upon Canton from the walls ;
and, when several of the city volunteers were unjustly
killed by the Hu Nan braves, the former rushed, to
the number of several hundred, into the Examination
Hall to take revenge, and drove the soldiers helter-
skelter to the Tartar-General's palace. Here they
were somewhat pacified by Brigadier Twan's being
deprived of his button and feather on the spot. The
foreign soldiers also earned the ill-will of the people
by giving way to plundering and lust; and as 1,500
of their number did this the day after the peace, on
their way down from Square Fort to the Mud
Rampart, the exasperated villagers of Sam-yun a
surrounded and killed 200 of them, including their
General, Pehmeh Hapih, 6 whose head was as large
as a bucket, and whose b&ton, orders, and double-
barrelled pistol were also taken. The villagers of
Sdm-shAn c attacked and killed another hundred of
a H%m
6 16 §? IS S The first two characters are the same as
in Bremer, but this name cannot be identified. Possibly it may
refer to Lieutenant Hadfield, who, however, was not killed.
86 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
them, and captured two guns and 1,000 small-arrns.
Elliot hastened to the rescue, and, as the crowds of
villagers became more numerous, had to seek the
assistance of the prefect. At this moment only a
quarter of the ransom money had been paid, and
the Fu Kien marines just arrived that very day.
If orders had been given to surround and slay the
foreign soldiers and take the [civilian] foreigners
prisoners, we might have held them as hostages,
ordered the ships beyond the Bogue, and then
discussed terms at leisure, entirely as it should have
suited us. This is the seventh turning-point in
Canton affairs. However, our generals had not the
wit to see this, but sent the prefect to use his
persuasive powers with the people. After a whole
day, he at last succeeded in getting Elliot safely out
of the crowd on board his ship. The foreign ships
now left one after the other ; some of the largest got
ashore, and the country people offered to burn and
plunder them ; but K'ikung would not hear of
it Notwithstanding, a military graduate** did succeed
in blowing up one of the foreign ships at Ch { un-pi 6
[Chuenpee] by means of some fire-ships he had got
together, and all the others then made off. Another
success was that of the Fatshan volunteers, who got
to the windward of the Kwai-kong c Fort, and killed
a score or more of the enemy by throwing a
a mnn *$& 'fin
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 87
poisonous dust into their eyes. They also succeeded
in routing a foreign sampan sent to the rescue. All
these facts were duly reported to the Emperor, who
sarcastically replied, that the " village volunteers had
" apparently been able to accomplish more than the
" whole of the armies of China!" Elliot, too, was
very much mortified, and issued a " proclamation,"
forsooth, calling upon the people " not to test the
" leniency of Great England's officers again!" The
people sent him a defiant reply saying: — "As you pro-
" fess that your ships and guns are invincible, why did
"you not attack Canton during Commissioner Lin's
" viceroyalty ? The other day, when you were
"surrounded, why could not you fight your way out
"without begging aid from the prefect ? Having now
" entrapped our disloyal statesmen into peace proposals
" and withdrawal of the troops, you succeeded in
" getting far into the country. If you dare to show
"your faces in the river again, and we do not
" assemble in myriads to burn your ships and
" annihilate your ugly selves, then we are not good
."subjects of the Great Ts'ing Empire!" At this
juncture there were 36,000 volunteers training night
and day in the two Canton districts; and, when
Elliot heard of these preparations, he dared not
accept the challenge, but, knowing that it was
hopeless to regain trade at Canton, changed his
policy; and a month later the Amoy affair occurred.
88 Chinese Account of the Opium Wars
Wei Yuan the historian, in summing up, remarks
that it was the closing of trade, and not the forced
surrender of the opium, that brought on the Canton
War, the events leading to which were, the objections,
generally, to sign away the lives of opium traders,
and, specifically to deliver over the homicide.
[Great Britain had already sacrificed the gunner of
the " Lady Hughes " in 1784, and the Americans
tha Italian Terranuova in 1821]. It is plain that
Elliot had not a rebellious heart, inasmuch as
he offered to agree to confiscation, offered rewards
for the discovery of the murderer, and wished to
await news from home. Finally, the laws provide
for the ransom of Mongols and other uncivilized
criminals by a fine in cattle, so that our demands
upon him were altogether too exacting. The
Bear-Admiral Han should have been executed
for his corruption, instead of being merely degraded.
The Hoppo and his men, whose irregular charges
more than doubled the regular import duties, and
who had been battening for years upon the co-hong
merchants, should have been compelled, instead of
the latter, to pay for the war. It would have been
better to sacrifice the Customs' interests for a time ;
to devote full attention to measures of defence, and,
by abolishing the Hoppo's extortions, to secure the
good-will of the other foreigners. Just as the
Astronomical Board avails itself of foreign as-
Chinese Account of the Opium War, 39
tronomers' labours, so we might have got a few
Americans, Dutchmen, and Portuguese to instruct
skilled Chinese artificers at Canton in the art of
shipbuilding, and have offered to purchase foreign
ships, guns, rockets, and powder from any persons
wishing to* sell. Not only could we have obtained
these articles in exchange for our produce, but we
might have accepted them in payment of duties. In
this way we might have been content to extract a few
millions only from the co-hong merchants, and in a
short time we should have been able to confront for-
eign skill with Chinese skill. We could have leisurely
strengthened the walls of outer Canton and the forts
upon the river ; got our armies properly together, and
trained them up to naval tactics, gradually extending
the same reforms to Amoy, Ningpo, and Shanghai ;
after which a grand review of all the fleets might have
been held at Tientsin, and such a spectacle of naval
greatness witnessed as China had never seen before.
What enemv would then have dared to attack us ?
How could opium then have ventured into China?
What slanderers would have then dared to open
their mouths? This would have been what may
be called " setting your own house in order first."
Why, then, the hurry to make a show on the high
seas and abroad? Some say that if the efforts of
Commissioner Lin, who preserved the proud integrity
of Canton without charging for a single extra soldier,
40 Chinese Account oj the Opium War.
had been imitated farther north, the Emperor would
have had no cause for serious anxiety at all, and the
island pirates would have been reduced to impotence;
that, therefore, it is unfair to lay all the blame on him,
instead of on the unpreparedness in the north, and the
cowardice afterwards shewn at Canton. Moreover,
Lin earnestly recommended that foreigner should be
got to fight foreigner after the fall of Ting-hai, and
that the integrity of our possessions should be
maintained, and the three millions at Canton spent
upon ships and guns. What a pity his advice was
not tried ! Wei Yuan agrees with the popular
verdict that trade should not have been stopped, — but
with the reservation that opium should not have been
included any more in the trade, and that steps should
have been taken to prevent the English from taking
advantage of the weakness of China's maritime pre-
parations to act as Hideyoshi 1 * once acted in Corea
and Koxinga* in Formosa. Wei Yuan here reads a
lecture upon the subject of not interfering with the
man at the wheel, or with the driver of the coach
who is entrusted with the reins : but this literary
effort of his in no way concerns the story, and is
omitted from this translation.
$^it 'ff&gi
PART II.
■•©•■
THE NANKING TREATY.
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 43
PART II.
>o»
THE NANKING TREATY.
THE yielding to terms on the part of the English
at Canton in May 1841 was owing partly to our
armies having to escape from immediate peril, and
partly to the anxiety of the enemy to replenish his
military chest with our money ; so that neither side
had leisure to think of trade arrangements : and the
foreign soldiers, knowing, after their narrow escape
at Sdm-yun Village, that they had drawn upon
themselves the hatred of the people of Canton, \vhose
ferocity they now had reason to fear, did not dare to
enter the Canton Biver any more for purposes of
trade. The co-hong merchants were unwilling to go
to Hongkong on account of the perils of the sea, and
therefore it was proposed to exchange Hongkong for
Tsim-sha Point and Cowloon. As the Emperor had
not yet been invited to agree to Hongkong being
given up, the Tartar-General and the Viceroy felt
that the other two places were still more out of the
question, and therefore arranged that [the foreigners]
should come to Whampoa as before. But the enemy
would not allow us to repair the Bogue Forts, which
44 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
they razed, conveying the masonry to Hongkong for
use there. They also wanted us to remove the piles
and other obstructions in the river. Whilst haggling
was going on as to these points, trade existed only
in name. The prefect had agreed with Elliot to
pay a military indemnity of six million dollars in
addition to the value of the opium ; but the Tartar-
General called the former sum a "balance owing by
the co-hong merchants," and never reported the latter
at all. As soon as the foreign ships had withdrawn,
we re-blocked the more important river-approaches,
and rebuilt the forts ; and, in short, put our defences
in such a state that the enemy could not force his
way in as before. The hostile community now
blamed Elliot for not having exacted another port,
and "Spread a report that the King of England had
blamed him for incapacity, and had appointed as
military general in his stead Pottinger,* who wa*
going up the coast, and would repeat the demands
made last year at Tientsin. [He arrived on the
10th of August.]
There was a typhoon at Hongkong in July
[21st], and K'ikung joined Iliang in despatching
a hasty memorial, which reported that innumerable
foreign ships had been dashed to pieces, innumerable
foreign soldiers and Chinese traitors swept into
the sea; that all their tents and mat -sheds, the
fJ3
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 45
new Praya, etc., had been utterly annihilated ;
that the sea was literally covered with corpses ; and
so on. The Emperor thereupon returned solemn
thanks to the god of the seas, and announced
the event to the whole Empire. Over a hundred
promotions were sanctioned for the gallant defence
of Canton; — and meanwhile the whole fleet of
foreign ships had gone to Fu Kien and taken
Amoy! When Amoy was attacked the previous
year, the Admiral Ch'en* had lost no time in
obtaining sick-leave. T^ng T'iNG-CHiiNG and the
taotai Liu Yao-ch'un 6 had confined themselves to
defending the old forts and piling up ramparts of
sand, the natural strength of which kept the enemy
off. Admiral Yen Peh-t'ao, c on taking over charge,
at once denounced his predecessor's cowardice in the
most furious terms, and likewise K'ishen and Yang
Fang for recommending peace at Canton : but he was
in fact himself only a bragging and self-glorifying fool.
He represented Tung's cautious, defensive policy in
slighting terms, and requested the Emperor's sanction
to an expenditure of two million taels, to be spent on
fifty new ships of war, with which he proposed to
sweep the English from the seas. He raised 9,000 new
infantry and marines, and built three new forts on the
islands off Amoy, all of which preparation proved
waste labour when the news arrived of the peace
*m%m "nnm c mfc*
46 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
negotiations at Canton, and the new levies had to be
dismissed. On the 26th of August, however, the
foreign fleets appeared suddenly off Amoy, and
handed in a document calling for the surrender of
the port until all the demands made the previous
year at Tientsin should have been conceded. The
next morning the ships sailed into the inner harbour,
and began to reconnoitre with steam-launches in order
to find out the range and direction of our guns, which
were ascertained to be all fixtures ; after which, of
course, they kept out of range. A number of boats
now advanced together, and their attack was met by
our soldiers stationed on Kulang Sii and on two of the
other islands. Two steam-launches and one man-of-
war were sunk, and one mast was damaged besides.
Two or three of their ships now concentrated their
fire on one fort, and, after this had fallen, proceeded
to another, causing considerable loss of life. Finally
the great fort was attacked, and our dismissed
marines turned renegade and assisted in the attack.
Yen and Liu beat a retreat at the same moment ; the
pirates landed, and turned our own guns upon the
city of Amoy, the public buildings, markets, etc., of
which place were demolished within twenty-four hours ;
Yen and Liu retired upon T'ung-an a city, and Amoy
fell into the pirates' hands, [with a loss of two
killed and seven wounded]. However, the foreigners,
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 47
having thus possessed themselves of Amoy, did not
keep it, bnt proceeded in a few days with the greater
part of their fleet on to Ningpo, leaving only a few
ships anchored off Kulang Sii. Accordingly, aboat
the 22nd of September, Admiral Yen reported the
" recapture " of Amoy to the Emperor ; but the sub-
prefect of the place remained in hiding notwith-
standing, and did not venture to re-assume his official
duties. The Emperor degraded the Admiral to the
third rank, but left him at his post, and despatched the
under-secretary Twanhwa" to ascertain the true facts
for his information. Meanwhile the foreigners on
Eulang Sii were employing workmen to build for them
more boats, with a view to reconnoitring up the river.
With thirty of these, and five larger vessels, they ad-
vanced up the Muh-chwang Creek, 6 and sank five of
our war-junks with their guns. Tfro of our captains
were killed, but a resistance was offered by the
Admiral and Rear- Admiral in charge, who succeeded
in sinking one large foreign vessel. The enemy then
withdrew out into the open sea. They dared not
venture up the Five Tiger Passage of the Foochow
River, for this only contains enough water when the
tide is in.
To return to Ningpo. The foreign fleet had
already left Ting-hai when Yuk'ien arrived in
January as Imperial Commissioner in succession to
a mm **»»
48 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
Ilipu, and the Generals in command did their best
to repair the walls and fortifications, and to get their
troops together again. Yuk'ien was as hot-headed
as Yen Peh-t'ao, and totally ignorant of warfare :
he was entirely in the hands of Lin TsSh-su — so long
as Lin TsfeH-su was there : but, owing to the Canton
Salt Commissioner having, at an audience of the
Emperor, vigorously supported K'isheN at the ex-
pense of Lin, Lin was ordered, first to Kashgaria,
and then to the Yellow River works, so that the
affairs of Che Kiang were left more without a
guiding head than ever. At best Ting-hai was but a
solitary island, not worth defending at the cost of
weakening the mainland armies. To make matters
worse, all the three Brigadiers were destitute of
military science or strategy, and would have built
one great wall enclosing as an hypothenuse the
outer as well as the inner town, which was
hemmed in on the other sides by the mountains,
had the absurdity of such a system of defence not
been dinned into Yuk'ien's ears by the people.
The result was that nothing was done at all, let
alone anything sensible. When the news of the
peace and orders to disband came, five thousand
of the best soldiers were at Ting-hai, four thousand
more being stationed at different points around
Chen-hai and Ningpo. About the beginning
[the 4th] of September the foreign ships [the
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 49
"Nemesis"] first attacked Shih P'u, a but were
unable to do much damage on account of the rocks :
they then cruised up and down for a time, and finally
attacked Ting-hai on the 26th of September. Our
guns damaged one of the steam-launches, which
made off at once. Two days later, the whole fleet
commenced an attack upon the Hiao-feng Hill, 6 but
our troops were protected by the rocks, and a party
of men who landed in a boat were driven off by
our gingalls. Attacks made in other parts of the
island were also repulsed by our guns. On the
1st of October, the pirates took advantage of the
exhausted state of our troops to advance from three
different points, so as to confuse us ; and the boats
of one party were sent back, so as to prevent the men
from thinking of retreat. As the front ranks of
the pirates fell, they were filled up from the rear.
Our guns on the heights could not do much against
a contrary wind, and by midday got too overheated
to use. The pirates then recklessly scaled the hills
and entered the city, the three Brigadiers all losing
their lives in the fight: and thus Ting-hai fell a
second time. [The Repository says that the Chinese
defence was very noble.]
With regard to the 4,000 troops garrisoning Chen-
hai, Yuk'ien employed about 1,000 of them to guard
a oJ Tnt the scene of the French attack in 1885.
50 Chinese Account of the Opium War,
the precincts of the city; the General Yu Pu-yun"
occupied Chao-pao Shan 6 with another 1,000; and the
Brigadier Sib Ch'ao-£n c defended Golden Fowl Hill
across the river with a third. Observing a white
flag hoisted on Chao-pao Shan, Yuk'ien saw that
Yu Pu-yun was unfaithful, and did his best to rouse
the religious patriotism of the soldiers; whilst
Yu Pu-yun pretended that his foot so ailed him
that he could not kneel down to join in the
solemn vow. Yuk'ien reported to the Emperor
that the foreign ships had, including black soldiers
and disloyal Chinese, a force of quite 10,000 men ;
and that his idea was to defend the several
critical points if the pirate fleet advanced in one
body, and to work at the defences day and night
should they defer the attack. He pointed out the
disadvantages under which the Chinese lay in point
of discipline and unity as compared with the in-
vaders ; but vowed not to leave Chen-hai alive, or to
receive any propositions from the enemy on that
account. On the 10th of October the foreign fleet
attacked the above-mentioned three positions.
General Yu and his men bolted without firing a
shot, and the force on Golden Fowl Hill was soon
silenced and routed. Seeing that there was no escape
for Chen-hai, Yuk'ien sent his aide-de-camp to the
Governor with the Imperial Commissioner's seal, and
a &$m >*9*ui e m®&
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 51
drowned himself in a pond.* On the 13th, four
men-of-war, two steam-launches, and a flotilla of
boats appeared before Ningpo, whence Yu Pu-yEn
again bolted, followed by the taotai and the
prefect 6 T6ng T'ing-ts'ai, to Shang-yii city. The
cities of Ts'z-k'i and Yii-yao were captured by
small boats, were found deserted by their popula-
tions, and were plundered and burnt: robber
bands started up; and the whole province was
thrown into a state of panic. The dastardly
Yu Pu-yun reported to the Emperor that poor
Yuk'ien had been the first to flee; and spread a
report that the foreigners had attacked Ningpo in
order to avenge the death of the white barbarian
W6n-li, c whose head had been stuck upon a pole
during the summer by Yuk'ien. This was re-
presented to the Emperor by the Governor Liu
Yun-k'o;* but, unfortunately for this argument,
the enemy had already gone back on his treaty
at Canton, unsuccessfully demanded Cowloon and
Tsim-sha, and refused permission to rebuild the
Bogue Forts ; and had moreover already announced
his intention to take Amoy first and Ting-hai
« He was rescued, but swallowed gold afterwards, and expired
near Yii-yao city. — Repository.
b fft «E£ S§5 brother of the Viceroy Teng.
c flfi 8E Captain Stead, of the " Pestonjee Bomanjee," was
murdered by YUk'ien or his minions. — Repository.
52 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
afterwards: finally, the foreigners had stated by
proclamation and letter that their intention was to
exact ports for trade, not saying one word about
Yuk'ien. And it may here be mentioned in
anticipation that, the following year, when Ilipu
at Cha-p'u asked the British chief why he was
again invading us, the letter of reply contained
not one word alluding to Yuk'ien, whose only fault
was that his capacity was not equal to his ardour.
[The British losses at Ting-hai and Chen-hai were
17 killed and 36 wounded.]
The Emperor now appointed the imperial clans-
man Yikking as Generalissimo, with two other Man-
chu dignitaries as advisers. Niu KieN,* Governor
of Ho Nan, was appointed Viceroy at Nanking, and
Iliang was made Imperial Commissioner for Fu
Kien. Niu's idea was to hire as manv braves,
robbers, and scoundrels of all descriptions as could
be got together from the provinces ; to keep up a
harassing guerilla warfare ; and to station agents in
the places occupied by the foreigners, so as to prepare
for rendering assistance when a suitable time should
come. The Ningpo people, like the Cantonese, were
put down as " disloyal." All this was approved by
the Emperor, who ordered Yikking to put the enemy
off guard by discharging his functions in the first
instance from Soochow. There his staff behaved so
V
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 58
extravagantly and dissolutely that he decided to
remove his head-quarters to Kia-hing [Kashing].
Here he and one of his advisers both had an identical
dream, to the effect that the foreigners had swarmed
on board their ships, and had left in a panic ; which
fitted in exactly with a piece of intelligence, reported
from Ningpo that very day, to the effect that the
foreigners were getting their arms on board the ships.
This filled them both with a desire to fight at once ;
and the whole party, suites included, proceeded to
Hangchow, where the second adviser, T'Shishun, a
was placed in charge, whilst Yikking, with his fellow
dreamer WSnwei,* went to Shao-hing city.
Now there had been a great deal of snow
during the winter, followed by heavy rains, so that
all the stock of fire-boats and the fuel collected was
out of condition and useless. Notwithstanding the
prayers of everyone that he would postpone the
attack for at least a fortnight, Yikking obstinately
refused to wait, and fixed the 15th of March, 1842, as
the date for the> recovery of the occupied cities in
full force, thus ignoring the previously agreed upon
arrangement about guerilla fighting. The enemy,
hearing of these preparations, naturally prepared
themselves too: the foreign officers all went on board,
leaving only a few hundred men in charge of the large
guns on the city wall, to deal with any army advan-
54 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
eing by the west gate. At Chdn-hai they proceeded
to take possession of the Chao-pao Shan, so as to be
able to bombard thence onr men as they poured
into that city. This was the interpretation of the
dream ! Our troops were strictly enjoined not to use
fire or rockets, lest they should set fire to the town ;
the only thing to be done was to try and get the
Chinese traitors to betray the foreigners, especially
the chiefs, into our hands, when the recapture of
the cities would be easy, and we could arrange our
own terms with the hostages in our hands. Yikking
entrenched himself with 3,000 men in the east suburb
of Shao-hing. WfiffWEi occupied the heights of
Ch'ang-k'i," one mile from Ts'z-k'i city, with 4,000
men, half of whom were under Colonel Chu, 6 and
intended for an attack on Chta-hai. General Twak
Yung-fdh c lay concealed outside the walls of Ning-
po with 4,000 men, destined for an attack upon
that city ; and a Colonel with 1,000 more men
guarded the Ningpo and Chen-hai road at Camel
Bridge, half way between the tw# cities. Boats
were also sunk at Mei Hu; d so as to prevent river
communication ; and a reserve force of volunteers was
stationed at Shang-yu city. When the appointed
time came, our men marched towards the west
gate, when, the guard having been killed by our
friends in the city, who also spiked the guns on
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 55
the walls, the men advanced through the gate right
up to the prefect's and magistrate's yamins before
the foreigners knew what was taking place. Then
followed a street fight, and our troops found them-
selves taken in the rear by a foreign force which had
come to the rescue from the north gate. Finding it
impossible to withstand the rockets and guns with
which the foreigners peppered them from the house-
tops, they retired, fighting as they went, with a
loss of 250 men. General Twan, coming up with
reinforcements, turned round and bolted, not even
attempting to rally the men, or even to fall back
upon and defend his camp at Ta-yin Shan. a
General Yu Pu-YUff, who was advancing with
2,000 men from Fung-hwa, as soon as he heard of
the defeat, turned and fled all night long into the
open country. So much for our arms at Ningpo.
Of the force at Ts'z-k'i, a part, that is 500 men,
succeeded in getting into Chen-hai in the same way
as had been done at Ningpo ; but our agents in the
city were too few to secure the persons of the pirates,
and it was daylight before. our fire-arms could be
sent for. The enemy then gave us a broadside from
his position on Chao-pao Shan, which drove our men
helter-skelter out of the city. Colonel Chu, with
his reinforcements, lost his way in the wind and rain,
and never came up to Chen-hai at all. So much for
56 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
our arms at ChSn-hai. Then it was that the error
of all these hasty arrangements was manifest : but no
irreparable disaster had yet occurred, as our total
losses did not exceed 300 men. The position at
Ts'z-k'i was again re-occupied with 1,700 men, and
the city itself was guarded by volunteers. Yikking
neglected alike to decapitate the cowardly generals,
and to himself advance up to Shang-yu ; and, as
the commander of the local volunteers at Ts'z-k'i
was sent for to consult on the situation, the volun-
teers found themselves left without a head, and so
dispersed. A week later, the enemy sent steam-
launches to burn our fire-boats, and landed between
2,000 and 3,000 men to attack our position near
Ts'z-k'i: as before, their boats were withdrawn
to prevent the men from thinking of retreat.
Colonel Chu met them with 400 of his men
armed with gingalls. Over 400 foreign soldiers
were killed, including their chief PA-MEH-TSUN a
[? Bramston], not one of our men being even
wounded behind their shelter. If at this moment the
foreigners could only have been taken in the rear,
we might have gained a complete victory ; or even
if we had had a few hundred men to guard the rear
of our position on the hill, we might at least have
prevented a defeat W^Nwei's camp was only a
few miles off; but he refused to send any re-inforce-
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 57
ments until the evening, when it was too late ; for
the foreigners had then taken us in the rear, and
defeated us, Colonel Chu and his son both falling
in the fight. The enemy was exceedingly unlikely
to have gone on to Ch'ang-k'i that night : but the
cowardly WfiffWEi deserted his position and bolted
during the darkness, distributing lavish rewards to
boatmen and chairmen as he went, so as to escape
the pursuit of the English. As he had bolted, his
troops naturally broke too, leaving all their stores
and arms to take care of themselves. WSnwei
then reported to the Emperor that his camp had
been burnt by " disloyal Chinese ;" whereas the
English had not come up even on the evening of the
following day ! The idea which now suggested itself
was to fix the head-quarters at Shang-yii, entice
the foreign soldiers farther inland, and to try fight
after fight in order to prevent their harrying
Kiang Su province, and in order to discourage them
from placing their demands too high. Yikking and
W&NWEI, however, had now completely lost their
heads. They represented to the Emperor that only
seven of our men had escaped alive in one fight,
in which, as a matter of fact, only seven had been
even wounded ; that over a thousand instead of
just over a hundred had been killed at Ts'i-k'i; and
that 17,000 English instead of between 2,000 and
3,000 had landed there. They then retired from
58 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
Shao-hing to Si-hing, whence Yikking finally crossed
to Hangchow. These were our efforts by land.
Our naval programme had been to collect a
force of fishing boats at Cha-p'u, and endeavour to
recapture Ting-hai : over 10,000 marines had been
stationed in various places with this object in view ;
but Yikking continued to listen to the craven counsels
of his aide-de-camp Jungchao,* and ordered them
to disperse : he also withdrew the war-junks and
fire-boats, in consequence of which the destitute
fisherman marines now went over to the foreigners.
These were our doings afloat. There was one officer,
Ch6ng Ting-ch^n, 6 notwithstanding, who had the
courage to disobey orders, and Yikking was half
inclined to listen to Jungchao's advice to have
him executed, only refraining from this dastardly
act owing to the indignant remonstrances of Tbang
Hu-ch'ing, c the literatu8 who had originally recom-
mended guerilla warfare. Yikking now ventured
back across the river once more, and issued orders in
all directions for all the soldiers to fight as they best
could : the result of this was that over 300 British
and Sikh heads were brought in within a fortnight :
also four English officers and over 50 soldiers,
white and black, were sent prisoners to Ningpo,
with two disloyal Chinese advisers. Meanwhile
Ch£ng Ting-ch'£n, with his fire-boats, managed to
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 59
barn or sink four large men-of-war and about a
dozen boats, during which operations from 500 to
600 foreign sailors were drowned. The magistrate
of Chen-hai also earned a laurel by a bold attack
upon the fleet in the open, off Chen-hai, and Tieeino
received a double peacock's feather in consequence ;
whilst the two heroes themselves received propor-
tionate rewards. This created a tremendous com-
motion at head-quarters. Those who had defended
Ch&ng clamoured for their share of notice, whilst
those who had attacked him vowed that the victory-
was imaginary." The Governor Liu Yun-k'o 6
became the mouthpiece of the second clique; but
Ch&ng closed their mouths by sending four large
boats full of charred and splintered foreign planks,
as well as the heads and original clothes of his
pirate victims. The Governor, however, had
already asked that Ilipu might come to Ningpo
to discuss terms of peace, and the Emperor had
appointed the imperial clansman K'iying* as
Imperial Commissioner, to be assisted by the Acting
Tartar-General at Hangchow and by one Ts'ishSn*
as associates. They were ordered not to advance,
nor to take the heads of stray barbarians, the penalty
for doing which was now declared capital. The
a The Repository of 1842, pages 455 and 470, shews that this
victory was purely imaginary. No fight took place at all, still less
was any foreigner killed.
60 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
repairs to the Yellow River having now been com-
pleted, Lin Ts^H-stJ was again ordered to Kashgaria,
and the Grand Secretary Wang TiNG, a who had been
associated with him, died of grief and mortification.
Meanwhile the English made reconnoitring ex-
peditions round Shanghai and up the Yangtsze ;
obtained at Ningpo maps of the Empire and charts of
the Yangtsze and Yellow River; turned our dis-
charged fisherman marines into pilots and guides;
manufactured a number of small boats for use in the
creeks ; and exacted from the gentry of Ningpo, as
the price of their retirement, an indemnity of
$200,000, withdrawing on 'board their ships on the
7th of May. Yikking and his party accordingly
reported that he had "forced the British troops to
retire," and had recovered Ningpo. The real facts
were that a steamer had been sent to England to
report the capture of Ningpo, and that six months
later a reply had been received from the King
ordering the ships to proceed again to Tientsin to ask
for open ports and free trade, the retirement of the
troops from Ningpo having nothing whatever to do
with the movements of our armies. Towards the
middle of May the foreign ships at Chen-liai also
left the place for the north, leaving only four ships
and 1,000 men in charge of Ting-hai. The two
promontories 6 at the mouth of the Hangchow River
•3* - *« m, it in
. Chinese Account of the Opium War. 61
had lately silted up so much that the foreigners could
not get up to Hangchow with ships ; but on the 18th
of May they bombarded Cha-p'u, and landed a force
to attack the east gate. Here they were met by
troops from Shen Si and Kan Suh armed with
gingalls, receiving such rough treatment that they
went round to the south gate. As the Manchu
garrison had been in the habit of calling the
Chinese*" disloyalists," the Fu Kien braves sided
with the enemy and set fire to the town. The
foreigners then got over the wall and burnt the
Manchu quarter, 6 the Assistant Tartar- General and
the Acting Sub-Prefect losing their lives, and the taotai
escaping to Kashing, which place, as also Hangchow,
was now threatened too. When Ilipu arrived at
Cha-p'u, the English demands were so extravagant
that nothing definite could be arrived at ; and, when
the Governor requested the Emperor's sanction to
the restoration of the score or two of white and black
barbarian prisoners, the foreign ships had left Cha-
p'u. The prisoners were then sent to Chen-hai, and
it was suggested that bygones should be bygones;
but the English would not listen any more. The
Emperor ordered the Tartar-General or one of the
Associates to proceed to Kashing ; and on this Yik-
* See description of the southern sandbanks in the Repository
for 1842, page 290.
& Ever since this the Assistant Tartar-General has had his
office at Hangchow. . . ,..,, ... ».
62 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
king crossed over north. No sooner bad the Imperial
Commissioner K'iying arrived at Kashing, than he
received the Emperor's orders to go to Canton, and
T^hishun* was ordered to act as Tartar-General of
Hangchow. This was because the Censor Su T'ing-
k'wei,* had represented that the Nepaulese had
attacked the English garrisons in India, and that
the fleet had to go to the rescue: accordingly
K'iying was ordered to see if he could not seize
the opportunity to retake Hongkong. When matters
became pressing at Nanking, he was equally suddenly
ordered back, before he had reached Canton. At this
time there were fourteen foreign ships at Hongkong ;
a score or two of sampans and small craft; about
one thousand foreign soldiers ; and a large sprinkling
of disloyal Chinese. Yikshan having succeeded
in drawing off over 3,000 of these last, the chief
men of those remaining in Hongkong also for the
most part shewed a wish to come back to their
allegiance. These disloyalists proposed to put the
Bogue Forts in order, take advantage of the winter
neap tides, join with the Hongkong disloyalists,
make a surprise attack on the fleet, and annihilate the
whole foreign community at one blow : but Yikshan
was afraid of exciting K'ikung's anger, and would
not allow it. The Emperor deprived Yikshan of
his chief official titles for his incapacity, and Iliang
Chinese Account of ike Opium War. 63
was ordered to replace Yen Peh-t'ao, also degraded
for failing to destroy the fleet at Amoy. On
the 18th of the 4th moon the foreign ships left
Cha-p'u, a and a number of them arrived off Wusung
on the 3rd of the 5th moon ; and on the 5th Niu Kirn
received instructions from Yikking to temporize:
but, as he delayed sending his orders to the foreign
fleet for two days, it was already too late. The
Magistrate of Pao-shan city, near Wusung, had
proposed to lay an ambush and entice the foreigners
ashore, leaving the forts 'to themselves; but the
infatuated Niu Kien did nothing but allow the
remnants of the troops, who had fled so ignomi-
niously at Ningpo, to plunder the natives, who thus
felt their hearts fill with rancour.
On the 1 6th of June, the General commanding at the
forts opened fire upon the foreign ships, sinking two,
cutting in two the masts of two others, and causing
the death by drowning of over 200* foreign soldiers.
The foreigners attacked Siao Sha-pei c in boats, routed
with a ridiculously small force the cowardly
contingent from Ningpo, landed a few men, killed
the general with a cannon shot, and put to flight
the several thousand soldiers who lined the bank.
« The forces withdrew from Chap'u on the 23rd May : the
dates here appear to be somewhat confused, and cannot be
identified.
& No such losses are mentioned in the Repository.
64 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
Niu Kien fled to Kia-ting city, and the easternmost
fort was also abandoned ; so that Pao-shan city, with
a vast amount of war materiel, fell into the enemy's
hands ; to the great consternation of Shanghai, which
place was at once abandoned by both the civil and
military authorities, who fled to Sung-kiang. The
Fu Kien marines thereupon became bandits, and
took to burning and plundering. On the 19th eight
or nine foreign ships came up to Shanghai, but
that city was already deserted. Two days later, the
foreigners took two steam-launches and four or five
sampans up to a point near Sung-kiang, where they
were opposed by 2,000 Shen Si and Kan Suh
soldiers, and retired after a protracted fusillade on
both sides, repeating the operation with the same
results the next day ; so that Sung-kiang escaped.
The pirates next made a reconnaissance towards
Soochow; but their launches were piloted by our
fishermen on to the shallows, and had to go back.
On the 23rd the ships withdrew to Wusung, intend-
ing to enter the Yangtsze. On the 18th of July they
were off Kwa Chou ; but, finding that city deserted,
they turned to Chinkiang on the opposite side.
Hailing, the Assistant Tartar-General* over the
Manchu garrison there, was an imbecile creature,
« Admiral Parker with two small iron steamers proceeded
about 50 miles above Shanghai on the 22nd June. — Repository,
page 676.
'mm
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 65
and Niu Kien, after failing to close the Wusung
river to attack, should have hastened to Chinkiang,
concerted measures of defence with the Associate
Ts'iSHftN and the General Liu Yun-hiao," and
assumed supreme command over the Tartar Hailing :
if this had been done, the foreign ships would not
have gone straight on to Nanking, and we might
have tried to burn them ; or, anyhow, should have
treated with them without being at their mercy.
But Niu Kien fled straight to Nanking, and Hailing
told Ts'ish&n and Liu to leave him alone and
defend the outer city. He would not allow any one
to leave the city, and slaughtered a number of
disloyal Chinese, thereby exciting a general panic
of indignation. He made no preparations, collec-
ted no stores for defence, and made no attempt
to organize a volunteer force. The thousand or so
of Manchu garrison troops, and the 600 Chinese
troops were scattered about anyhow. The troops
outside the city kept off those pirates who had
landed during a couple of days; after which the Eng-
lish, 6 whilst making a feint of an attack upon
the north gate, secretly sent a body of men to scale
the wall on the south-west side, and swarmed into
the city, with a loss of only one c or two men. The
English first burnt the Manchu camp, Hailing
a 21 it %>. h 21st July,
e The Repository says we lost 169 killed and wounded.
66 Chinese Account oj the Opium War.
falling at the hands of his own men, a and Chinkiang
was then given over to plunder and massacre. The
Ningpo barbarian chieftain Pottinger wished to
proceed thence to Tientsin at once; but Morrison
prevented him, saying : — " This is the key to China's
" rice-tribute supply, and as long as we keep our
" finger on it, we shall have our own way ;" and so
he did not go. At this moment there were over
eighty foreign ships thundering in the river, and
reaching up as far as I-cheng, 6 where all the salt-
junks were set on fire, notwithstanding the offer of
Tls. 500,000 on the part of the Yang-chow salt-
merchants. On the 9th of August the ships had all
reached Nanking, and the Emperor, anxious about
the tribute-rice communications, gave K'i-ying c
carte blanche to act as he should see fit. The enemy
had already received the King's instructions not to
insist upon a military indemnity or the value of the
opium, if only trading privileges were extended to
the other provinces; and no more opium would
come to China. It was for this reason that the
foreign army left Ningpo in May, and issued a
"proclamation" at Cha-p'u, saying that they were
going to Tientsin to seek peace in accordance with the
King's commands. Ilipu now sent Chang Hi d and
« The depository says he committed suicide, and received high
posthumous honours.
*«* '$$ d $«
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 67
others to the foreign ships. The foreign chieftains
demanded (1) twenty million dollars, to be paid up over
a period of three years ; (2) Hongkong as a trading
place; (3) permission to trade at Canton, Foochow,
Amoy, Ningpo, and Shanghai ; (4) foreign officials to
be on terms of equality with Chinese officials ; and
the rest as proposed last year. Chang Hi said that
$6,000,000 had already been given at Canton last
year towards the indemnity and the opium, and
asked if the monev demand now made was not
excessive, and the number of ports named too great
altogether. Morrison said : — " This is the sum we
" require, and, of course, not the sum which China
"offers. Moreover, our leading idea now is open
" trade, and not to get money. ' If we only obtain
" one or two ports for trade, China may decide for
" herself about the indemnity and the opium:" but
the high authorities, instead of giving a prompt
answer, sent back Chang Hi with a message ; and,
whilst he was moving to and fro' during a period of
two days, the enemy had learnt from disloyal Chinese
that new troops were being ordered up, and said
" that we were only trying to gain time, and that
" unless an agreement were come to that day hostilities
" would commence on the morrow ;" — their desire
being for a speedy peace, as they did not really expect
to get all they asked. But all our leaders now lost
courage, and sent a reply that night, submitting to
68 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
everything, and not alluding at all to the rule about
opium being excluded from China. The English
were overjoyed, and our leaders followed the example
of those at Canton after the Square Fort had fallen,
and reported to the Emperor that the enemy's guns
were on Mount Chung, a and that the whole of Nanking
was at their mercy. They also pleaded that in times
gone by "the Emperor K'ien-lung, when un-
" successful in Burmah, had abandoned 5,000 li of
" territory beyond the frontier," thus maligning the
acts of past sacred monarchs by trumping up false
parallels ; for, as a matter of fact, the slab over
the T'ung-pih 6 Gate of Yiin Nan declaring that
" China's territory ends here " was put up by
K'aNg-hi, whose maps, still extant, could hardly
accuse his successor of having "lost" 5,000 li
beyond it ! The enemy also said that the document
treating of conditions must bear the seal of the
Emperor c of China, and that they would send it
home by steamer to have the King's seal affixed, and
that the ships would only retire to the sea-board ; but
that their troops at Chusan, Amoy, and Hongkong
must remain three years, until the whole of the
indemnities should have been paid up, when they
would be withdrawn. The treaty was concluded on
the 29th of August by K'iying, Ilepu, and Niu
III *$
« See Rescript of 8th September l842.—Beposit&n/, page 629,
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 69
Kiek, who went in person on board the enemy
Pottinger's ship [the " Cornwallis"]. Two days
later Pottinger, Morrison, etc., went into the city ;
and had an interview with our officials at the Cheng-
kioh a Temple. 6 For days in succession drafts were
made on the provincial treasuries of Kiang-ning,
Soochow, and An Hwei, and on the salt treasury of
Yangchow, and several millions of taels were thus
presented to the foreigners. In the middle of October,
as the foreign ships were about to leave, a banquet was
given by our leaders at the Temple, and a few days
later all the ships withdrew to Ting-hai. The Em-
peror now ordered up the Viceroy Niu Kien to be
punished for not having guarded the mouth of the
Yangtsze, and K'iying was appointed in his place.
Ilipu was ordered from Che Kiang to Canton as
High Commissioner for the drawing up of trade
regulations. Yikshan, Yikking, W£nwet, and Yi)
Pu-yun were are all cast into the Board of Punish-
ments; but the last-named only was executed, — during
the following winter. Punishments according to
their several deserts were also meted out to the
various civil and military officials along the coast
who had lost their towns, and the districts annexed
to the captured places were exempted from the
payment of land-tax.
6 The white flag was shewn on the 1 1th, and there were
several conferences both ashore and afloat previous to the 29th. —
Repository,
70 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
This winter there occurred the demand for the
Formosa prisoners. The year before and the next
year happened the breaking of faith on the part of the
Nepaulese, French, and Americans, and the burning
of the factoiy at Canton by volunteers. The For-
mosa prisoner case arose out of two reconnoitring
visits paid by foreign ships to Formosa in the
autumn of 1841 and the spring of 1842. One was
wrecked during a storm at Tamsui, and the other
was led upon the shallows by native fishing-craft
at Ta-an. 6 In both cases the local volunteers
surrounded and made prisoners of the crews;
captured one large three-masted ship, two sampans,
twenty-four white, and a hundred and sixty-five black
barbarians, twenty guns, a number of small-arms,
and a quantity of Government property taken by the
said pirates at Ningpo and Ch§n-hai. The Brigadier
Tahunga c and the taotai Yao Ying* had sent
several memorials to the Emperor on the subject,*
and in the spring of 1842 nineteen of the enemy's
ships went to Formosa to take revenge. They were
piloted in by native pirates ; but, our troops having
destroyed the pirate junks, the enemy fired a few
« March 10th. — Repository, 1842.
**# c mmm d mm
* These were the cases of the ship " Nerbudda " and the brig
"Ann." the defenceless crews of which were kept in miserable
captivity, and finally massacred in cold blood by the order of the
authorities. Sir Henry Pottingbu's correspondence upon the
subject is contained in the Repository for 1843.
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 71
shots from a distance and decamped. The spies
which they sent into T'aiwan from time to time
were all taken and decapitated; so that Formosa was
preserved entire. The Brigadier and the taotai
received distinguished rewards at the Emperor's
hands ; but, after the Nanking peace, prisoners on
both sides were to be restored, and it was found that
the Emperor had, during the summer, ordered the
decapitation of the 165 black barbarians ; so that the
white ones only were restored. The enemy's eye,
Pottinger, then accused the Brigadier and the
taotai of having wantonly massacred distressed
British subjects. The peace party at Nanking were
jealous of the success gained in Formosa, whilst the
defeated authorities at Amoy felt particularly small.
Kumours thus flew about ; and K'iying, acting upon
private letters received from the Viceroy 6 and the
General at Foochow, accused the Brigadier and taotai
of obtaining unfair credit. The new Viceroy was
ordered to proceed to Formosa and report, when it
appeared that the Brigadier and the taotai had
simply quoted the statements sent in by their sub-
ordinates. As it was impossible to convict on this,
pressure was put upon the Brigadier and taotai to
force them to own up, in order to appease the for-
« Six whites and three natives of India were restored. —
depository, 1842, page 648.
SS5) evidently brother of the Censor.
72 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
eigners ; and they were both summoned to Peking.
The soldiers became mutinous on hearing this news ;
but the accused themselves prevailed on their troops
to remain quiet The Viceroy resigned, and his
successor sent all the correspondence up to Peking ;
when the Emperor, seeing how unfair it was to
blame the Brigadier and the taotai, did not punish
them severely, and soon restored them to favour.
The Ghoorkas are soi^h-west of Tibet, and con-
terminous with the British East Indian possession
Bengal, with which district they had a standing feud.
Hearing in 1839 of the British raid, they represented
to the Resident in Tibet that " they were neighbours
"of the P'ileng* tribe belonging to Tili, and were
"always being insulted by them; that, the Tili*
" now being at war with a metropolitan possession,
" they, the Ghoorkas, would be glad to attack the
" Tili possessions in order to assist the Celestial
" chastisement." If only our ministers' had known
anything about geography or foreign politics, and
allowed them to create a diversion, then England's
Indian troops would have had their hands full at
home, and could not all have come to China. This
was our first offer of assistance from abroad: but
our ministers, not knowing that the Tili were the
English, that P'ilfing was Bengal, and that the
Metropolitan Possession was Canton in China, re-
a tk & J fil(? Delhi).
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 78
plied that " the Heavenly Dynasty never concerns
"itself with the mutual tiltings of savages;" and
thus the Ghoorka barbarians abandoned the idea of
attacking India, and the soldiers with which England
made her raids entertained no uneasiness about India
at all. After the Nanking peace in the autumn of
1842, the British on their return to India ironically
asked the Ghoorkhas to " come on :" the Ghoorkhas
then turned upon the Residents, whom they addressed
in very insubordinate terms. The Residents only
just managed to keep them to a nominal allegiance.
France and America are both powerful countries
of the west, and, like the English, trade at Canton.
They are hereditary enemies of England, but very
obsequious to China. The previous year, when the
English attacked China, and stopped all trade by
blockading the coast, the other countries were very
indignant, and said that, if the English did not return
home soon, they would also bring up men-of-war to
Canton and call them to account, — as Lin TsSh-su
twice represented to the Emperor. All of a sudden
Lin TsIsh-su was cashiered, and K'ishen thought of
nothing but peace; so the matter fell short. In
March, a when K'ishen was marched off a prisoner,
the American head-man came a few days after to try
and arrange matters. Hence came the suggestions
that trade and no other demands should be
* 12th March 1841.— Repository.
74 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
granted, and that ships smuggling opium should be
confiscated with their cargoes. But the leaders in
Canton made a night attack upon the factories, and
killed several Americans by mistake; so that the
Americans were no longer willing to come forward
in our interests.
After the repeated breaches of their conven-
tion by the English, the French foreign official
several times offered his assistance in building
ships. That winter two men-of-war arrived, with
a military leader, who said he had some
confidential business upon which he wished to
confer with the Tartar-General: he begged
that the services of an interpreter might be
dispensed with, as he had two bonzes with him who
understood Chinese. The Tartar-General Yikshan
and the Viceroy K'ikuNG had several interviews with
him outside the city. The attendants were dismissed,
and it was confidentially represented that, the English
having stopped the trade of all nations, the French
King had sent men-of-war for protection, and had
ordered him to act as mediator, and to proceed to
Ningpo and Shanghai to arrange peace*, when he
would have no difficulty in bringing the English to a
proper sense of things, and in finding a way out of their
« The Repository for 1842 says that an interview was held on
the 22nd March between Yikshan and Col. db Jancigny;
M. Challaye, the French Consul, was present. The "bonzes"
were evidently French or native Catholics, in Chinese dress.
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 75
greedy demands. If the English would not agree,
he would find some pretext for fighting them. This
was our second offer of assistance from abroad : but
Yikshan at first refused even to represent the matter
to the Emperor. The French then suggested that
they should, as a first step, go to Hongkong and see
Pottinger. After several days* discussion, they
replied that the English demanded Hongkong and
three millions [?oftaels] for the opium. Yikshan
still declined to forward their representations to the
Emperor. At last, when he did so, he added : — " but
" the enemy's designs are unfathomable, and possibly
" they are really assisting the English in an under-
" hand way, and acting as spies on us for them."
The French hung on from February to June, awaiting
our commands; and at last in June proceeded to
Wusung : a but the English were already far up the
Yangtsze. The French wanted to engage Chinese
pilots to take them up ; but the Shanghai officials, on
the contrary, threw obstacles in their way ; and so
much time was occupied in trying to obtain pilots
that, at last, when the French entered the river
in other boats, the treaty of peace was already con-
cluded, 6 and the English had got all they wanted ; —
anyhow a vast deal more than the French had
proposed on their behalf. The French head-man
« The " Erigone " arrived there on the 26th June.
& Captain Cecille arrived in a junk just in time to witness
the ceremony. — Repository, page 680.
76 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
went back much mortified ; and the following winter
returned to Canton to arrange about trade. The
English desired that traders of all nations should
report to them first, and then pay duties ; but the
French and the Americans indignantly exclaimed : —
" We are no dependencies of England, nor have we
" been treacherous and bullying. Why then treat
" them better than us ? " On this some American
ships of war entered port, and, a few months later,
some Frenchmen too. Both of them submitted
letters, begging to pay tribute, and to be allowed to
express their devotion at an interview. They also
requested to be allowed to leave their ships in the
south, whilst the tribute-envoys and a small suite
went overland to Peking ; for they wished to make
some confidential suggestions, and to assist us, — as
the Uigurs once assisted the T'ang dynasty against
the rebel Anluhshan. This was the third offer
of assistance from abroad ; rejected, however,
repeatedly by our ministers. Ilipu had already
died at Canton ; and in 1843 K'iying was ordered
thither to carry on his work : permission had been
granted to one country after another to trade on
the same terms as England without the interference
of the co-hong merchants, and with liberty to go to
the other ports, and stand on a footing of equality
« K'iYlNG's proclamation is published in the Repository for
1843.
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 77
with the mandarinate; so that the English even
became patrorts of the others.
The history of the volunteers or patriots of Canton
is as follows. When the English were hard pressed
at San-yuan Village, in the summer of 1841, they
hesitated about coming to trade at Canton any more.
But, after the peace, Canton was declared open by
imperial decree, and the following winter the white
barbarians went insolently all about the place. The
exasperated people rose upon them, burnt and
plundered the factory,* and killed some foreign
officers and soldiers off Macao. The ships of the
chief Pottinger were then at Canton, but dared
not take any revenge. The Viceroy and Governor,
however, punished the offenders in order to give
satisfaction: but P'an SHiH-CH^ftNG, 6 a gentleman
of Canton, engaged at his own expense a French
foreign official named Lei-J£n-sz c [? Colonel
de Jancigny] to order some snips and guns from
France, and also some torpedoes for attacking
ships under the water. Four two-masted men-
of-war, as strong and well-built as any foreign
ship, were thus built at his expense, at a cost of
« 7th December 1842.— See Repository for 1842, page 687.
The Repository for 1833, page 350, says that P'an Kiqua,
father of the senior hong merchant, had been disgusted by seeing
the tyranny practised in Manila.
c »tt±
78 Chinese Account of the Opium War.
Tls. 20,000 for each ship, and Tls. 40 for each
torpedo. On this the Emperor ordered the building
of a new Canton fleet to be confided to him, quite
free of all official interference, so as to prevent
peculation ; but, owing to the obstacles thrown in the
way by the high authorities, the matter dropped.*
Thus China was neither without allies or internal zeal
in the pirate war : but she had no one to take the
reins in hand; and so her dependent barbarians
were driven over to aid her enemy, and her brave
people were turned into disloyalists: her patriots
were even denounced as obstinate persons.
Of late, with the trade all along the coast, the
opium business is greater than ever ; and, at the re-
commendation of the Canton Governor Hwang £n-
t'ung, 6 the prohibitions against Soman Catholicism
have been relaxed throughout the Empire. The
foreigners in possession of Ting-hai and Kulang Su
put pressure on the officials, and harbour all sorts
of outlaws; whilst the man at Wu-shih Shan in
Foochow [i.e. H.B.M. Consul] occupies the very
heart of the capital, and can look over the whole
city. The Governor-General and the Governor look
helplessly on, and represent to the Emperor " that
" they have only given him a tumble-down temple
« The Repository for 1843, page 108, mentions an American
as having been employed by native gentry.
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 79
" outside the city !" The gentry and people of
Foochow are highly indignant ; and Lin TsfiH-sij,
who is with his family, is in the specially blaek
books of the high authorities there.
In 1844, K'iying was recalled, and Hwang £n-
t'ung was degraded to the rank of sub-prefect and
sent home. In 1845 the English called upon us to
keep K'iying's promise to admit them into the city
after three years, and to allow the establishment of an
office there ; but the Viceroy Su Kwang-tsin," with
the co-operation of the patriots in the city and the
Americans outside of it, succeeded in repelling them,
and the enemy was constrained to retire re infecta.
The Viceroy was made a viscount for this, and the
Governor Yeh Ming-sh^n 6 was made a baron.
Things were now tolerably quiet at Canton. The
new Emperor, Hien-fung, as soon as he came to
the throne in 1851, issued a special decree doing
justice to the memories of Lin TsfeH-su, Yao Ying,
and Tahunga for their efforts to maintain the
integrity of the outlying parts of the Empire, and
censuring K'iying's timidity and his error in defying
the enemy. This decree was received with great
satisfaction. e
The barbarian pirate war lasted two years in all,
and cost Tls. 70,000,000. There was always a
* f& HIS b 38 W M> Commissioner Yeh, of 1860.
c These last paragraphs seem to have been added on to a
subsequent edition.
80 Chinese Account of the Opium War,
clamour for either peace or war ; but no one, strange
to say, ever recommended a strictly defensive
attitude. Again, fighting was neglected when
fighting was proper, and indulged in when out of
place : so, also, peace was neglected when peace was
proper, and peace was decided for exactly at the
wrong: time. Such defensive measures as we took
were taken at wrong places, and neglected where
really required. Instead of putting herself on the
defensive, Canton went in wildly for peace; and
instead of putting himself on the defensive, Yikshan
went in wildly for war: whilst, again, Yen Peh-
t'ao, Yuk'ien, and Kiu Kien went in for wildly
defending indefensible places. If they had only
known how to take advantage of the ground, guard
the inner waters, strengthen their fortifications,
drill their best troops, prepare a store of com-
bustibles, and lay a series of ambushes, like Lin and
TfeNG did at the Bogue and Amoy ! They should
have appeared unable to conquer, and then waited
to see if the enemy could give them the opportunity
to conquer; when they could have fought on the
defensive, or remained on the defensive whilst
treating. If they had fought on the defensive, they
would have had the benefit of other troops besides
our own ; — for instance, the French and Americans,
and also the Ghoorkas, as far as setting foreign
enemy against foreign enemy goes : and they would
t
Chinese Account of the Opium War. 81
have had the benefit of other Chinese besides the
patriots; — for instance, our rapscallions, as far as
setting disloyalists against the enemy goes. If, on
the other hand, they had remained on the defensive
whilst treating, then we should have had nothing to
fear, whilst they would have had everything to ask.
We should have resolutely adhered to the opium
interdiction as a means of closing their mouths
and taking the spirit out of them, leaving the other
barbarians deprived of their trade to come in as
mediators, in which condition we could never but be
declared by the latter otherwise than in the right
against the English; whilst we must have gained
their affection in the same measure as the English
their hatred. In this way not only should we not
have had to pay for any opium, but we should have
been able to prevent for ever its coming any more
in the future ; whilst the millions of money which
we had to spend in war indemnities to the barbarians
could have been devoted to the purchase of foreign
guns and ships, the training of marines and firemen
to attack, etc.; thus appropriating to our own pur-
poses the armaments and defences of the foreigners
themselves, and turning their arts and devices into
our arts and devices, and at one effort both enriching
the state and strengthening our arms.
Oh ! opportunity ! opportunity ! It is only the
true genius who can take opportunity by the fore-
82 Cktmae Account efthe Opium War.
lock ! It is only the sagacious who never miss
opportunity. But the next best thing is to repent
when the opportunity has gone by. Repentance,
followed by capacity to change for the better, will
yet enable us to repair our errors at some future
time!
KELLY & WALSH, LIMITED, PRIHTBB8, SHANGHAI.
T
I
*N THE PRESS:
/A By the same Author:
fcpt - " CHINESE ACCOUNT OF EUROPEANS, THEIR RELIGIONS,
if COMMERCE, AND WARS."
Page 4, for ft read*.
7 „ [Madras]' 1 „ Meng-mai [Bombay]'
11 ,, our favour „ Our favour.
,, 37 „ you succeeded n you have succeeded.
62 „ fleet had to „ fleet had had to.
IllllllHlIlll
3 blOS OD5 001 l&H
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